Fire extinguisher



Feb. 16, 1937; F. M. ENGARD ET AL FIRE EXTINGUISHER Filed July 27, 1935 ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 16, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FIRE EXTINGUISHER Frank M. Engard and Arthur J. Earl, Des Moines, Iowa 7 Claims.

The principal object of our invention is to provide an automatic fire extingusher of few parts, that is highly sensitive and may be easily refilled and reset for future use.

A still further object of this invention is to pro vide a fire extinguisher that is economical in manufacture and durable in use.

Our invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts 10 of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in our claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side View of our complete device ready 15 for use with a section cut away to more fully illustrate the interior arrangement and construction of its fluid supply tank portion.

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of our fire extinguisher detachably secured to a wall or like.

20 Fig. 3 is a side-sectional view of that portion of the device for securing it to a supporting surface and is taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the device taken on line 4--4 of Fig. l.

25 Fig. 5 is a vertical-sectional view of the lower portion of our device and is taken on line 5--5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a bottom cross-sectional view of a portion of the automatic phase of the device and 30 is taken on line 6-B of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a bottom view of the spray cap of the device.

Fig. 8 is a. cross-sectional view of the fusible metal connection and is taken on line 3-8 of 35 Fig. 5.

There are many types of portable fire extinguishers on the market, but most of them are very diflicult to use and the exiting fire extinguishing fluid cannot be accurately directed due to the 40 necessity of pumping the device all the time to produce and maintain pressure. This pumping naturally seriously afiects the aim and produces undesirable fluctuations in the exit flow of the fluid. We have overcome such objections as will 5 hereinafter be appreciated.

Referring to the drawing, we have used the numeral II) to designate the elongated tank. of the device designed to hold any suitable fire extinguishing fluid II. This fluid is placed in the 50 tank container through the filling cap l2 and should never be in such quantity as to completely fill the tank, in order that an air space I3 is provided. This air or gas space in the tank should contain air or gas under a pressure considerably 55 greater than that of atmospheric pressure. Some fluids may produce their own pressure or be placed into the tank under pressure, but most fluids will require pressures created by auxiliary means. In the drawing, we show a valved air or like stem M in the top of the tank. After the fluid has been placed in the tank, air or like under pressure is introduced into the tank through this stem and then the stem is sealed at its outer end by the screw cap l5. An ordinary bicycle pump can be used for this introduction of the air, or 10 any suitable mechanism or means for producing pressure. The pressure existing inside the tank may be at all times easily ascertained by inspecting the pressure gauge l6 which communicates with the inside top of the tank. The numeral I! designates a manually operated valve secured by suitable means to the top of the tank and operated by the hand wheel I 8. The numeral [9 designates a flexible conduit inside the tank In and having its upper end communicating with the inside of the valve ll. This flexible conduit extends substantially the entire length of the tank, terminating just above the bottom of the tank, as shown in Fig. 1. The numeral 20 designates a weight secured around the free lower end portion of the conduit IS. The numeral 2| designates an L-connection on the manually operated valve I1 and communicating with the inside of the same. The numeral 22 designates a flexible iii hose having one end secured to and communicating with the inside of the L-connection 2|. The numeral 23 designates a nozzle element secured to the free outer end of the flexible hose 22.

By this arrangement and construction of parts, when it is desired to manually use our fire extinguisher it is merely necessary to open the valve I! by rotating the member l8 and direct the nozzle 23 in the direction of the fire to be extinguished. The fluid flowing from the tank is at all times under the complete control of the operator operating the valves H and to shut off the flow of the fire extinguishing fluid it is merely necessary to close the valve IT. The pressure inside the tank lfl should be such that it will expel all or substantially all of the fluid in the tank. By the use of the flexible conduit l9 and weighted end 20 the device may be held in any position with the assurance that the lower inlet end of the hose will be moved by force of gravity into and under the surface of the fluid ll. This type of portable fire extinguisher does not need to be pumped to maintain pressure and all the operator has to do is to accurately direct the stream of the fire extinguishing fluid onto the fire to be put out.

We will now explain the automatic feature of our fire extinguisher. The numeral 24 designates a pipe having its upper end threaded into and through the bottom of the tank 10, as shown in Fig. 5. The numeral 25 designates a plate element threaded onto the lower end portion of the pipe 24. This plate element is parallel with the bottom of the tank l0 and the lower end of the pipe 24 communicates with the space below the plate. The numeral 26 designates a hook member integrally formed on the bottom of the plate and at one side of the bottom of the pipe 24. The numeral 21 designates a bar having one end portion resting on the hook member 26, and a shoulder 28 engaging the forward marginal edge of the hook member, as shown in Fig. 5. This bar is spaced apart from and extends directly,

below the lower end of the pipe 24. The numeral 29 designates a well in the upper surface of the bar 21 and directly below the passageway of the pipe 24.

The numeral 30 designates a coil spring resting in the well 29 having its lower end engaging the bottom of the well and its upper end yieldingly engaging a ball 3|. This ball 3| may be of any suitable material such as steel and has its upper portion engaging the lower end of the pipe 24 and closing the passageway in the pipe by seating in the valve seat 32 which is formed in the lower end of the pipe 24 and which surrounds the passageway of the pipe, as shown in Fig. 5. The numeral 33 designates a post rising from the top of the plate 25 and having its upper end portion bent at right angles and parallel with the top of the plate. The numeral 34 designates a bolt having its lower end hooked or otherwise constructed for engagement with the upper portion of the curved ear member 35. This bolt 34 extends loosely through the upper end portion of the post 33 and has a nut and lock nut 36 threaded on its upper end and in engagement with the top of the post 33, as shown in Fig. 5. The numeral 31 designates a rod having its lower end loosely extending through the end portion of that end of the bar 21 that is opposite its end that engages the hook member 26. The numeral 38 designates a nut and lock nut threaded onto the lower end of the rod 37, below the bar 27!, and engaging the under surface of the bar 21, as shown in Fig. 6. The upper end portion of the rod 3'! extends upwardly, loosely through the plate 25, and has its upper end resting in the curve of the curved ear 35, as shown in Fig. 8. This upper end portion of the rod 3'! and ear 35 are held and secured together by a fusible metal or compound 39. By adjusting either the nuts 36 or 38 or both the nuts 36 and 38, the rod 31 will be held upwardly, thereby supporting one end of the bar 21, causing the coil spring 30 to yieldingly and tightly hold the ball 3| in its seat with the passageway of the pipe 24 sealed.

The numeral 40 designates a spray cap having a plurality of perforations 4| and secured to and surrounding the lower side of the plate 25, the member 26, bar 2?, nuts 38, etc. The numeral 42 designates a grill between the tank l6 and plate 25 embracing the pipe 24, post 33, ear 35, nuts 36, etc.

The practical operation of the automatic feature of our device is as follows: If a fire starts in the vicinity of the device and no one is present to manually operate the device, the heatfrom the fire will fuse thefusible metal 39, thereby releasing the rod 3'! from the ear 35. Naturally,

the pressure inside the tank and inside the pipe 34 will force the ball 3! downwardly and outwardly from its seat, carrying with it the bar 3'! which has been released at one end. With the ball 3| out of its seat, the fluid will flow from the tank, through the pipe 24, and into the spray cap 40 from which it will pass through the perforations 4! and be sprayed onto the fire, thereby extinguishing the same. Usually, such apparatuses are secured to a. wall or like and when this is the case the perforations 4! may cover only approximately one-half of the area of the spray cap that is away from the wall, as shown in Fig. 7. This conserves the fluid and properly directs the same somewhat away from the wall, which would logically be toward the fire. After the fire has been put out, the device may be again easily reset and refilled. The nuts 36 and 38 should be tightened in order that the ball 3| will tightly engage its seat and close the pipe 24.

To secure our fire extinguisher to a supporting surface such as a wall or like, we provide a plate 43, which may be secured to a wall 44 by any suitable means such as screws 45. This plate has a bracket arm 46 which extends outwardly with its extreme outer end bent outwardly and upwardly, as shown in the drawing.

This bracket arm is preferably of fiat construction and engages a slotted gear 41 secured to the upper end of the tank Ill. By this construction the device may be easily placed on the bracket arm 46 or removed from the same. By the member 46 being of fiat construction and engaging a sloti in the ear 41, the device will be properly suspended and held in suitable position for automatic operation.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of our improved fire extinguisher without departing from the real spirit and purpose of our invention, and it is our intention to cover by our claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

We claim:

1. In an automaticfire extinguisher, a base member having a passageway designed to be in communication with a source of fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, a hook member on said base member and at one side of said passageway, a bar member having one end loosely resting on said hook member and extending in spaced relationship over said passageway, a ball element between said bar and said passageway, and an adjustable mechanism having a comparatively low temperature fusible element for normally supporting the other end of said bar and holding said ball element thereby into engagement with said passageway.

2. In an automatic fire extinguisher, a base member having a passageway designed to be in communication with a source of fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, a hook member on said base member and at one side of said passageway, a bar member having one end loosely resting on said hook member and extending in spaced relationship over said passageway, a spring element on said bar member, a ball member normally engaging said spring element and said passageway for closing the same, and an adjustable mechanism having a comparatively low temperature fusing element supporting the other end of said bar and holding said spring element in engagement with said ball member.

3. In an automatic fire extinguisher, a base member having a passageway designed to be in communication with a source of fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, a hook member on said base member and at one side of said passageway, a bar member having one end loosely resting on said hook member and extending in spaced relationship over said passageway, a well in said bar and directly below said passageway, a coil spring resting in said well, a ball element seating in and closing said passageway between said passageway and said bar member and resting on said coil spring, and an element having a low temperature fusing portion supporting the other end of said bar.

4. In a device of the class described, a pipe designed to be in communication with a source of fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, a plate member threaded onto said pipe, a hook member on the bottom of said plate, a bar having one end resting on said hook member and extending in spaced relationship over said pipe, a ball valve member closing said pipe and resting between said bar and said pipe, a supporting post on the top of said plate member, a bolt member loosely extending through and supported by said post, an ear member supported by said bolt member, a rod member loosely extending through said plate member having one end operatively connected to said bar member and its other end adjacent said ear, and an element of low temperature fusing material connecting said rod member with said ear.

5. In a device of the class described, a pipe designed to be in communication with a source of fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, a plate member threaded onto said pipe, a hook member on the bottom of said plate, a bar having one end resting on said hook member and extending in spaced relationship over said pipe, a ball valve member closing said pipe and resting between said bar and said pipe, a supporting post on the top of said plate member, a bolt member loosely extending through and supported by said post, a curved ear member supported by said bolt memher, a rod member loosely extending through said plate member having one end operatively connected to said bar member and its other end adjacent said curved ear, and an element of low temperature fusing material connecting said rod member with said curved ear.

6. In an automatic fire extinguisher, a base member having a passageway designed to be in communication with a source of fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, a hook member on said base member and at one side of said passageway, a bar member having one end loosely resting on said hook member and extending in spaced relationship over said passageway, a well in said bar and directly below said passageway, a coil spring resting in said well, a ball element seating in and closing said passageway between said passageway and said bar member and resting on said coil spring, an element of low temperature fusing material supporting the other end of said bar, and a spray cap embracing the bottom of said plate member and said bar member.

7. In an automatic fire extinguisher, a base member having a passageway designed to be in communication with a source of fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, a hook member on said base member and at one side of said passageway, a bar member having one end loosely resting on top of said hook member and having a shoulder engaging the end of said hook member, a spring element on said bar member, a ball member normally engaging said spring element and said passageway for closing the same, and an adjustable mechanism having a comparatively low temperature fusing element supporting the other end of said bar and holding said spring element in engagement with said ball member.

FRANK M. ENGARD. ARTHUR J. EARL. 

